Central State Hospital

aka State Lunatic, Idiot, and Epileptic Asylum.

Milledgeville, Georgia

Established 1837, first patient admitted in 1842,
still in use.

"One of the most important places in Milledgeville is Central State Hospital. Many people from central Georgia
work in one of its many buildings. Central State Hospital, or Central State as it is often called, is a haven for the
mentally ill and a home for war veterans. It sprawls over many acres and provides help for the many people who live and
work there. The history of Central State Hospital is not only about Central State. It is about the state of Georgia caring
enough to help the mentally ill.

Central State Hospital started out as a
humanitarian gesture to provide a place for
mentally ill people to live so they would not have to
reside in a jail or a prison. The early attendants
were slaves. The history of Central State Hospital
began in 1834 when Governor Wilson Lumpkin
asked the Georgia State Legislature to care for the
"idiots, lunatics, and the insane." Governor
Lumpkin was quoted as saying, "Every government
possessing the means should without hesitancy
provide suitable asylums for these most distressed
and unfortunate of human beings" in his opening
address to the Georgia State Legislature on
November 4, 1834. Because of Governor
Lumpkin's speeches, on December 28, 1837, the
Georgia State Legislature passed a bill that created
a "State Lunatic, Idiot, and Epileptic Asylum." In
1842, the first patient was admitted. He had come
from Macon, Georgia, chained to the back of a
wagon. This was the modest beginning of what has now become one of the
largest employers in the state of Georgia."